As the first big awards show of 2024 (and post-strikes), the 81st Golden Globe Awards kicks off this season of celebrating excellence on screen and behind the scenes in Beverly Hills, California.
With nominations this year across various categories, we see notable AAPI nominees and winners to follow the year where Asians were winning everything everywhere, all at once.
Top grade Beef at the Golden Globes
Beef’s lead actors Ali Wong and Steven Yeun celebrate their first Golden Globe nominations – and first Golden Globe wins.
In genuine shock and awe, Ali Wong wins the award for “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television”.
The comedian turned author and actor accepts her first acting award for her role of Amy in the Netflix and A24 production of Beef by thanking the show’s creator, Lee Sung Jin (Sonny).
“I really need to thank Sonny for creating such a beautiful show and inviting me to be a part of it,” says Wong.
The Golden Globe winner also thanks her ex-husband and co-parent, Justin Hakuta: “to the father of my children and best friend, it’s because of you that I’m able to be a working mother.”
See also: ‘Beef’ forces us to face our shame
Winner winner, Beef for dinner at 81st Golden Globe Awards
Immediately after Wong’s win, the award for “Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television” is awarded.
The winner? Steven Yeun, with his first Golden Globe nomination and first Golden Globe win.
The veteran actor recognizes the significance of this moment for him and his career, but following the coattails of last year’s awards season, takes a different tone, and in a positive way: “The story I usually tell of myself to myself is one of isolation and separateness…” – alluding to his long career and having been one of the only or few actors of Asian descent – “…and then you come up here and have this moment and you can only just think about everyone else,” shares Yeun. He also thanks his daughters, wife, cast and crew behind Beef.
Beef serves up something rare
In its third win of the evening, Beef wins the Golden Globe Award for“Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television”.
Writer, director and creator Lee Sung Jin pays tribute to the unnamed man who was the other driver of Lee’s real life road rage incident that inspired the show’s creation with his cast and crew standing proudly behind him.
What is significant to me about the accolades that Beef is racking up goes beyond surface-level representation. It is the rarity of the opportunity to see a story that is so specifically Asian American without the show being about Asian American identity.
Beef shows a diverse range of Asian American flawed human beings and our lived experiences, especially those farthest away from the model minority. What the show’s recognition signals to us as viewers in the Asian diaspora is that the specificities and depth of each character’s journey allows audiences to see us for us, and not who they want us to be. Here’s to more stories for us and by us this awards season and beyond.
Celebrating AAPI excellence and ninja kicking glass ceilings
2023 was the first year Cold Tea Collective, a small independent publication, attended and covered a major awards show. It makes us beam with pride to see so many nominations for AAPI stories and creatives this awards season.
Last year we asked Michelle Yeoh a question after her Golden Globe win, and she thoughtfully responded with her views on where things are going.
“I do believe that times are changing. There is much more inclusivity. There’s more diversity. And it’s not lip service anymore. Whatever that glass ceiling was, we just ninja-kicked and shattered it – and we have to keep it that way,” says Yeoh. Read the full article to learn more.
After a landmark past year of wins, for AAPI stories, other AAPI nominations for this year’s Golden Globes include Past Lives, Elemental and Charles Melton in May December. The 81st Golden Globe awards was hosted by Filipino American comedian Jo Koy.
Help us uplift Asian diaspora voices
Support Cold Tea Collective with a monthly contribution to help ensure stories for and by the next generation of the Asian diaspora are here to stay.
